boxed curriculum

Boxed Curriculum Isn’t for You If…

I think boxed curriculum can be amazing, in fact I have used one for the past two years and loved it for the most part. I loved the set schedule, I didn’t have to think about what we were going to be doing each day or week, and we probably wouldn’t be homeschooling still without it. But sometimes, it’s time to move on, to try being eclectic and/or creating your own curriculum.

Homeschool Boxed Curriculum Isn’t for You If…

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Using a boxed curriculum can be amazing when you are just starting your homeschool journey. Or, as in our case, you are adding more children into your homeschool routine.

I think that box curriculum has a time and place in your homeschool journey, whether at the beginning, the end or in the middle.

If You Need the Freedom to Explore Boxed Curriculum isn’t for You

By not using curriculum in a box we have the freedom to explore other topics. While our curriculum doesn’t take long, it does seem like we have a harder time fitting in other topics. Such as learning about Black History for instance.

I feel it was important for us to learn about Canadian Black History, so that was something we had to add it where we could. A homeschool in a box curriculum isn’t as likely to cover every subject or topic you want to cover.

Grammar Galaxy - Secular Language Arts Curriculum

If Schedule Changes are Normal for Your Family Boxed Curriculum isn’t for You

Having your day scheduled out for you can be amazing, but if you are more of a fly by the seat of your pants, go where the wind blows type, boxed curriculum may not be for you.

I read a book recently that encourages you to follow your children’s interests and boxed curriculum can stop you a bit from doing that.

If your family is on the go, and learning from experiences is your thing, all-in-one curriculum isn’t the route for you.

Do You Like Changing Things Up?

Do you get antsy using the same thing over and over? I do. I am tired of my binder with our weekly lessons just because I occasionally get bored with the same ol’, same ol’. If you like to try different things through out the school year, you may not want to go a boxed route.

Going to the library and finding great books on topics that your kids are interested is why I choose to homeschool and I’m moving back into that mind set this coming year.

No more books that are scheduled to read taking up space on our shelves that we aren’t completely interested in, instead only books based on interest and what we feel is important to learn about.

Book Curriculum & Books for You

Eclectic Homeschooling

We’re “naturally” eclectic homeschoolers. We like moving from topic to topic in our own time. We like drawing from multiple sources for one topic, or even one subject.

I like picking a choosing our curriculum pieces that I know will work for us. A few of my our favorite curriculum are Wizards and Wands, and Grammar Galaxy. Wizards and Wands does have a language arts component to it, but we love Grammar Galaxy.

Is a Boxed Curriculum Right for Your Homeschool?

*This post is part of my brand ambassadorship with BookShark. This post contains links to BookShark, and there are affiliate links. See my my disclosure policy for more information.*

With three children homeschooling this year, boxed curriculum has been a great time and sanity saver for our homeschool.

Boxed Curriculum Provides Ease of Use

Boxed curriculum might be for you if you don’t feel comfortable to plan lessons on your own and you don’t want spend hours and hours of prep work. Searching for curriculum takes a lot of time and energy!

Boxed curriculum is open and go. There is very little prep work for the homeschool parent to do ahead of time for the lessons. BookShark includes Instructor Guides, lesson plans and for some subjects such as science, the manipulatives for experiments.

Simply choose which subjects you need, and have it all shipped to your door. Essentially it is school in a box. You get everything in one box and don’t have to shop around. You will still need to buy typical school supplies like pencils, paper, binders, etc. of course.

Boxed Curriculum Works for Multiple Ages

BookShark for example has ages specified on their subject levels. For example, Science Level 2 is ages 7-9— perfect for teaching your children together despite an age difference. Teaching all your children together regardless of their age and makes it more fun to do projects or experiments together.

Learning more subjects together means less one-on-one instruction time is needed with mom. There is also the benefit of spending time together as a family.

Boxed Curriculum is Best …

for your first years of homeschooling
if you have multiple children
if you like structure
if you are confused and overwhelmed by an eclectic approach

Many of the books you get in a boxed curriculum like BookShark’s literature based curriculum can be used again, and the bonus is that you are building your home library.

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Curriculum Reading – Do Your Kids Love or Hate It?

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

We have found the perfect language arts program, it has spelling components, writing styles, and curriculum reading. But not all books are meant for everyone, different tastes and likes for different people. I know I can’t read just anything, I need to be interested in the topic and story line. Why do we expect children to read every book we tell them to read?

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information. This post was written as part of my ambassadorship with BookShark, but my opinions are 100% my own and honest.*

Curriculum Reading – Do Your Kids Love or Hate It?

When you think back to your own school days, did you love every book you had to read for class? Are there a few books that still stand out to you that you loved? In grade four, my teacher read aloud to us, while I don’t recall all the books read that year I remember loving both Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. Charlotte’s Web is included in Reading with History Level 1, and I was so excited to read it to my children and to see them enjoying it as well.

Curriculum Books Reading Options

There are a number of different ways you can make sure that you are reading the books in your curriculum. One option is for you to read the book out loud to your child instead of them reading it themselves. Another option is to see if you can find the audio version of the book. There are many different options for finding audiobooks now, whether it’s a book on CD, from Amazon’s Audible or from your Hoopla, which you may have access to through your library.

When to Move On from Curriculum Books

There are books that just aren’t for everyone. I handed Austin, my nine year old, a book before and had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a book she would be interested in, but I kept all opinions on that to myself. After each chapter, I ask her to tell me what happened, to summarize what she read, and ask a question from our language arts instructor’s guide. She couldn’t. A quarter of the way through the book, she had little to no idea what the book was about. I called that book quits.

Why do I let her stop reading without finishing a book? If she isn’t understand what is happening then we’ll go through it together, whether I read it out loud or we find an audiobooks version. I feel like having a lack of interest in a book is going to block her learning from it. With so many great books available I know there is another one that she’ll enjoy more, and learn from just the same.

I have a lack of interest in learning anything about hunting, knowing that the food in my freezer is delicious is enough information for me. When my husband or kids put on a television show or pull out a book on the topic, I feel myself drifting off into another world. Why should it be different for our kids?

For every books that isn’t a fit, there are many more on our curriculum reading list that are big hits. We’ve found amazing new to authors to explore past our curriculum reading list.

Finding Other Book Options

Hit your local library for books similar in topic that might keep your child’s interest more. Ask your library for suggestions or search Google for book suggests. Another great resource for books on a topic is other homeschool parents. Facebook groups are a great way to ask for book recommendations on a specific topic.

Thinking about Elementary Curriculum Choices for Your Family

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

Choosing elementary curriculum doesn’t have to be stressful, you want to give your kids a strong foundation for learning, and you don’t necessarily need a curriculum. Books from your local library are perfect.

Elementary Curriculum Choices for Your Family

*This post may contain affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

I’m not going to tell you what elementary curriculum you should choose, I can’t know the answers to everything but I can give you some things to think about.

We are going into our fifth year of homeschooling. We have used boxed curriculum and we have been eclectic homeschoolers using this and that to suit our needs. In fact I avoided box curriculum for the first few years for a few reasons, cost being one, but also because I had no idea what we would need, what we’d use, what would work and so on.

Take a deep and think about these things before you make a quick choice on your child’s elementary curriculum.

What Your Family Needs in a Curriculum

We are strictly secular homeschoolers as you just may have noticed here already. Therefore we need a curriculum, books, or workbooks that follow that, religion free. But maybe your family wants/needs a curriculum that follows a specific religion. The beauty of homeschooling is being able to tailor it to your needs.

Curriculum Ease of Use

There are curriculum at are completely ready for you, open the box and go with little to no work or planning for you the parent, these would be boxed curriculum.

There also those that require a lot of planning and work for you. This is a big thing to look at. Homeschooling moms and dads that also work may not have the time for the extra work. This would be a eclectic style of homeschooling.

The amount of work that is required for your child may not be a fit either. Depending on how fast they work, how quickly they learn new concepts and such.

The amount of work required for you, as the homeschool parent may not be reasonable. If you are a working mom, you may need to look for something a little less time consuming to plan and prep for.

Your Homeschooling Method

Is there a curriculum available that follows the method of school you follow? If you are unschooling then you aren’t going to need a curriculum at all. Eclectic homeschoolers, such as us, may just want to pick up some workbooks.

Or maybe you and your kids are looking for something like Outschool. Where they can join virtual class on a topic that maybe of interest to them, or maybe something that you want covered but aren’t sure how to teach.

Elementary Homeschool Subjects

What subjects do you want to teach your children this year? Math, reading, and writing are the most important, but what about science, social studies and history, or geography? What about art or music classes?

The curriculum choices other there are wide and varied. There is something for everyone and every family. One thing to remember is that just because it works for one child, it may not work for all your children.

Try to find reviews, talk to family and friends make sure to ask why they liked or didn’t like it a curriculum choice. What they disliked might just be what you are looking for.

I’m an admin for a great Facebook page now that is all about curriculum. If you are a homeschooler, or going to be starting to homeschool and you have questions about curriculum join us. Chances are someone has used the curriculum you are thinking about using and can answer any questions you may have.

Picking Curriculum for Your Family

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

I know some of you planners may have everything figured out already, but there are still some of us who are looking at all the different curriculum options, trying to figure out what is going to work for you and your family. I struggle with picking curriculum myself… especially with two girls who are so completely different.

Picking Curriculum for Your Family

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

The first place to go when deciding on curriculum is your children. Grab a notebook and pen and follow your kids around. Watch how they go through their day interacting with others, their activities and interests. The best time to get started would be during the summer, before you start ordering curriculum or other materials.

Ask them what they want to learn about. What are the learning outcomes set out by your school board/state?

How do you start with a brand new curriculum? Well, some offer sample pages for you to look at, to try with your child. As well as placement tests for that particular curriculum.

Prep Work

Decide how much prep work you want to do then look at both the curriculum information and review. Reviews both on their website and from homeschooling bloggers. I know that there is a local curriculum that I could use, but the amount of work for the parents is unreal!

I like having everything put together and ready for me. Broken down into actionable amounts, and weeks like BookShark curriculum is (reviews coming soon).

Get a great planner to keep track of what you need to do, when you need to do it. You don’t want to fall behind in your prep work and then your homeschool.

Previous Curriculum

Did you use curriculum last year? How did it go? If you loved it, you’re set. It you hated it, look at the specifics of what you hated and look for curricula that offer solutions to that problem or are laid out differently.

Do this all this again mid-year to make sure that you are on the right path. Change what isn’t working for you and your kids and fix it. There is no reason to continue on a path that isn’t working.

I admit, I was terrified of trying new curricula, of investing that much money into something. Last year, Austin loved math, so I know she is going to love a math curriculum instead of just the math workbooks we have used for the past two years. RightStart Math is going to be a great fit for us. (Boxing opening pictured below.)

Mail call! Who doesn't love getting good mail? #ad Math curriculum from@rightstartmath They are asking to get started right away! #homeschooling #math #happylearning
A post shared by Ashley (@forgetfulmomma) on May 19, 2017 at 12:13pm PDT

During the Build Your Homeschool Bundle I bought some spelling workbooks, which I was excited for, because I am a bad speller and hate teaching it, but my girls have no problem trying to spell new words all the time when writing stories and drawing pictures, and I wanted to encourage them. We’ll still be using our sight word flashcards too.

boxed curriculum

Boxed Curriculum Isn’t for You If…

Homeschool Boxed Curriculum Isn’t for You If…

If You Need the Freedom to Explore Boxed Curriculum isn’t for You